Tuesday, May 13th—a day that determined the fate of next year’s residential life of rising fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-formers at Choate—marked the end of this year’s housing lottery. The lottery is an annual process that assigns each student to a dorm and a roommate. All returning boarding students turned in “rooming cards” that reflect dormitory preferences and received the housing assignment results via e-mail on Wednesday morning.
The housing process began on April 28th, with two separate procedures for rising sixth-form students and fourth- and fifth- formers.
Rising fourth- and fifth- formers who wish to occupy single or triple rooms are part of the first round. They may choose to list dormitory preferences and potential roommates. They meet with their form dean and draw a random number. Students who draw “good numbers,” which are randomly designated by the dean, are given first choice for rooming. Some students with “bad numbers” may not be able to secure a single or triple room. These students then join the second lottery round for double rooms. They need to find a roommate, and the lottery process is repeated. Ms. Salot, Dean of Residential Life, works with Mr. Ford to assign students to rooms and dorms, keeping preferences in consideration whenever possible.
Sixth-form students have a slightly different procedure: instead of applying in two waves, rising sixth-formers apply together in groups of up to four with dormitory preferences listed. No rooming preferences are indicated. With such a process, sixth-formers are guaranteed to room with at least one of their friends. Mrs. Nancy Miller, Dean of the rising 6th form class, says that “it’s a special treat for [the seniors].”
A few changes in the housing lottery process are being implemented this year. Most significantly, faculty hosting has been removed from the budget. “Housing” is a system in which a student lives in the house of a faculty member’s family. The faculty member receives remuneration in their system. “With the new dorms, we don’t need the beds anymore,” explains Dean of Students and Third Form Dean Mr. John Ford. “There weren’t that many faculty members hosting to begin with,” he continues, “but some of our faculty who love hosting will be disappointed to see it discontinued.” Faculty members are still allowed to host students; hosting will just no longer be included in budget plans. Mr. Neil Shimmield, a teacher who has hosted for eight consecutive years, notes that he “would be willing to host students even if I wasn’t paid—they would just have to be students I know well.”
Students who wish to be hosted need to apply. Hosting has, though offered to only a few students, often proved to be a fascinating experience for students and faculty. Mr. Shimmield says, “It’s like having your nephews stay… for a long time.” Hosted students follow the same rules that other boarders do, such as the procedures for check-in, lights out, and internet restrictions. At the same time, students do not have prefects. Because they have more privacy than can be expected in dormitory life, only the applicants with characters of high caliber are selected to be hosted. “[My experiences] always have been somewhere between the good and the superlative,” comments Mr. Shimmield.
The students who are currently hosting with faculty this year are given a choice—they can remain with their “family” or they can return to dormitory life. Ayaka Okawa ’10, a hosting student, explains her decision to return to dorm life. “[Hosting] depends on who you are… it’s great for some people, but I miss having prefects and neighbors.”
Suspension-hosting will not be removed. Students who are suspended on campus are usually and will continue to be hosted by faculty members. “We don’t really like hosting suspended students, though,” remarks Mr. Shimmield.
Several dormitories will not house students in 2008-2009. Wheeler, Further Cottage, Richardson, and Gables, dorms formerly inhabited by sixth-formers, will be decommissioned. These dorms are smaller houses—many in deteriorating condition—that are too costly to renovate. To replace the lost housing, a few junior-senior dormitories have become all sixth-form houses: Mead for the girls, Edsall and East Cottage for the boys. “The sixth-form girls are excited about Mead in particular,” notes Mrs. Miller.
All dormitories have been turned into single-form dorms, with the exception of Clinton Knight, Hill House, Archbold, and McCook, which remain sophomore-junior dorms. The dorms were designated as single-form dormitories for practical reasons. “It’ll help stimulate the academic and social life of students,” says Mrs. Tommie Oppegaard, Dean of the rising 5th form girls. “Students can help each other study the same subjects.” Nonetheless, some students are opposed to the newly-assigned single-form dorms. “I thought it would be great to keep fourth-/fifth-form dorms—it brings the school together,” notes Okawa. Upper-formers reflecting on earlier years cherish their moments with students from different forms. Arline Lee ’09 recalled that some of her fondest memories as a sophomore were the interactions with juniors. Andi Wang ’10 enjoys McCook—and expressed a preference for McCook in the Housing Lottery—“to be with the sophomores.”
Beyond form divisions in the new system, a practical problem arises. In regard to the new dorms, Wang says, “They’ve really limited our options… we had eight dorms to choose from, now we only have five options.” The number of available fifth-form girls’ dorms has been reduced from eight possibilities to five, since former junior-senior dormitories such as Mead are now exclusively sixth-form. Okawa expresses her wistfulness concerning the newly constructed, all-sophomore dormitories: “I had really wanted to live in the new dorms… I was hoping one side would be for juniors, one for sophomores.” Wang is considering “apply[ing] for prefect-ship next year—I want to live in the new dorms!”
The housing lottery was one of the most-discussed topics on campus before students received their housing assignments on Wednesday. Some students, however, weren’t too worried. Wang observed before the results were released: “Well, if I don’t get my first choice, I’ll at least get one of my five choices—there are only five dorms open to us.”
